I interned for 14 weeks at Caesar Creek Software (CC-SW) for my STEP signature project. While at CC-SW, I completed several training modules, worked towards reproducing a vulnerability with a team, and presented my results to engineers.
I gained confidence and experience during my internship at CC-SW. Despite doing well in classes and being involved with student organizations, I used to doubt my reverse engineering, software engineering, and teamwork abilities. Learning, focusing on, and practicing various concepts and skills has strengthened my competence as an engineer and given me proof that I could succeed in the cybersecurity or software industries after graduation. I learned and grew a lot from injecting a DLL to manipulate program behavior, implementing a simple network protocol in Python, searching for vulnerabilities, and more. I enjoyed working in a team with members dedicated to completing our project and an environment with knowledgeable engineers who were happy to point me in the right direction to learning more. While I still feel nervous about graduation, I am proud of my capability to produce value and look forward to future computer science opportunities.
I grew from my interactions with the interns I carpooled with. I learned strategies for reverse engineering, researching, and being more productive (surprisingly, taking breaks can be helpful). They pushed me to eat lunch, reexamine problems from different perspectives, and more. Talking to them helped me complete the training modules, progress on a vulnerability research project, and better understand computer science. Talking with them also gave me a better sense to expect in my life after college.
My Learning Leader challenged me to learn more from the training modules and reviewed my performance at the end. From encouraging me to gain a deeper understanding of how computers work at a low level to teaching me core industry skills, I learned a lot under his guidance. He clarified concepts, fostered my research skills, and demanded high-quality code. Learning, applying, and practicing under my Learning Leader helped me improve my technical skills and grow as an engineer. His review reflected my growth and revealed areas to improve upon.
My project team members were and are an inspiration. They demonstrated a breadth of reverse and software engineering skills. They were very knowledgeable and supported my progress toward communicating with the device we were researching. They showed how talking with other people could result in making progress and also were a great group to work with on producing a presentation. Everyone’s dedication to finding vulnerabilities, outputting quality code, and teaching others has shaped my attitude toward group work and what I expect of work.
My time at CC-SW helped me gain confidence in my abilities and reinforced my love for learning. While I have decided to pursue graduate studies, the skills and experience I gained at CC-SW will be helpful during and after graduate school. Working with a team, producing good code, solving problems independently, and sharing knowledge will be part of my work regardless of where I go. Moreover, this experience helped me develop surety in my abilities and future.
